Structural health monitoring of an adhesively bonded CFRP aircraft fuselage by ultrasonic Lamb Waves

Abstract

The aviation industry faces the challenge of offering aircraft that are lighter, more economical, and safer. One of the solutions is to increase the use of composites. For these materials, adhesive bonding has proven to be the appropriate joining technology. To check these adhesive joints, costly and time-consuming maintenance measures are carried out. An intelligent Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system can extend these intervals and allow the use of a predictive maintenance system. This paper describes the method of Ultrasonic Lamb Waves for monitoring a adhesively bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) aircraft fuselage. Prior to this, the production of a segment of a fuselage and the characterization of the materials (CFRP and adhesive) is shown. Afterwards the method of Ultrasonic Lamb Waves with the use of piezoelectric transducers and signal processing based on the Reconstruction Algorithm for Probabilistic Inspection of Damage (RAPID) algorithm are explained. At the end, the experimental evaluation of an undamaged and a damaged fuselage structure is done. The results have shown the possibility of RAPID algorithm for damage detection on adhesive. An outlook on future work is given.